Lot 10

Private collection, Melbourne

Coppel, S., Linocuts of the Machine Age: Claude Flight and the Grosvenor School, Scholar Press, London, 1995, p. 53 (illus., another example)

Another example of this print is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Born in Switzerland, Lill Tschudi was one of the leading printmakers associated with the Grosvenor School of Modern Art in London. In 1929, at just eighteen, she travelled to England to study under Claude Flight, whose progressive approach to colour linocut attracted artists from across the world, including Australia's Dorrit Black, Ethel Spowers and Eveline Syme. Flight encouraged his students to embrace bold colour, simplified forms and compositions that captured the rhythm and movement of modern life. Tschudi later continued her studies in Paris with André Lhote, Gino Severini and Fernand Léger, further developing the distinctive visual language that would come to define her work.

Tschudi drew inspiration from the world around her, from transport, industry and sport to the quieter moments of everyday life. Her prints are recognised for their bold colour, strong compositions and wonderful sense of movement. Whether depicting busy city streets, alpine skiers or intimate interior scenes, she approached each subject with the same confidence and clarity. Beneath the modernity of her work was a close observation of the familiar, and an interest in the people and places that surrounded her.

Rather than depicting the pace and energy often associated with the Grosvenor School, 'Visiting Day' turns to a quieter scene. Set in a hospital nursery, rows of small cots extend across the room as figures gather beside the children. Tschudi captures the ordered rhythm of the interior through repeated forms and carefully placed figures, while a palette of soft greens, blues and ochres gives the work a sense of warmth. There is a stillness to the scene that sets it apart from her more energetic subjects, revealing another side of Tschudi's practice and her enduring interest in the everyday.

Hannah Ryan
Senior Art Specialist